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Drive from San Francisco to Michigan

11/22/04 - First, we dropped off Reuben at his new home in San Francisco.  His new mom is a wonderful woman named Clea (and for those wondering, we dropped Lucy off at Caroline's sister Jen's house in Michigan a few weeks earlier).  We got the rental truck and loaded up those belongings that we couldn't unload at the moving sale.  Then it was off to Riverside, CA to put our stuff in storage - Scott got to drive the truck and Caroline followed in the Cavalier, but we did get to communicate via our walkie-talkies, including Def Leopard serenades (as Caroline proceeded to pour some vocal sugar on meh - in the name of love).  Checked into our Motel 6 around midnight.  BTW, we do NOT recommend the Riverside Motel 6 (duh!).

11/23/04 - Went and found a storage spot - negotiated a 10X10 space for just $67/mth! We only needed half of it or so, though.  For those of you wondering why anyone from San Francisco would store their belongings in Riverside, there were three criteria involved in our storage selection.  First and foremost is price, which should not surprise anyone who knows us very well.  Riverside is half the price of most of L.A. or San Diego!  Which leads us to reason number two, location - we want to be somewhat close to the border.  As a bonus, it's also a fairly short drive to Palm Springs, Ontario Airport, LA, San Diego, and Las Vegas!  The third criterion is weather.  Turns out, Riverside has just about perfect conditions for storage!  Dry and warm (but not 115 degrees all summer like when we looked at El Centro, CA).  Okay, enough about the lovely community of Riverside.

After packing up and enjoying some lunch and pie at Coco's, we headed to Tahoe.  Tod, Jen and Giana Vedock invited us up to Tod's parent's condo for Thanksgiving, and we happily accepted the offer.  We didn't arrive until 1:30 in the morning after getting lost again (I spared you the 'Great Riverside Driving Debacle' story).  Tod had to come get us at the 7-Eleven in Incline Village and lead us in.

11/24/04 - (Scott's Birthday, for those interested) - Spent the day hanging around the condo and doing a little driving around.  Ended up getting some Mexican food and margaritas for dinner in celebration of Scott's big three-two, then proceed to lose $250 at the casino.  Okay, so I had an 11, and the dealer was showing a six, what would YOU do??  I doubled down, of course... and lost.  After losing, people questioned my doubling down, claiming I was making foolish bets.  If you know anything about blackjack, please email your support for my decision to scottsbrooks@yahoo.com.  Thank you.

11/25/04 - Thanksgiving, although we didn't celebrate it today.  This year Thanksgiving is on Friday so that Kris Koeller and Sophia can join us.  Watched Lions receive "ass-whoopin", went for a short hike at Spooner Lake Loop Trail, started snowing today, Brookses demolish Vedocks at Taboo™ , Kris and Sophia arrived.

11/26/04 - Celebrated Thanksgiving with one of Tod's famous deep-fried turkeys.  Hey, we had a vat full of hot peanut oil, so what would you do?  Of course!  You'd throw in extra food!  Some pizza rolls and sliced potatoes rounded out our Thanksgiving dinner, as in the time of the Pilgrims.  The men go out and tear up the town after dinner, visiting all casinos on the north shore, while the ladies watch TV and do baby things back at the condo.  The plan is to leave tomorrow.

11/27/04 - 18" of snow last night!!!  We weren't sure if we'd be able to make it out of the complex or not today, but ole' reliable Chevy-girl showed her grit and tore up the hill to escape her condo confines.  We had to go buy chains for the tires, since they were required for the first 60 miles or so of our trek.  $60 and two hours later we were chained up and ready to go.  We arrived in Elko, NV and stayed at the Comfort Inn, as the Elko casinos were either booked up or a little too pricey for Elko, Nevada.  Surprised to see that most hotels seem to have free WiFi out here in the middle of nowhere.  Also surprised at the tasty Chinese food we were able to find.

11/28/04 - We need some new tires already.  No place open on Sunday in Elko, but we did get to drive around the downtown, which has an excellent collection of old signs (neon and otherwise), most of which are still functioning.  After having lunch in Wendover, NV, drove to Provo, UT to stay for the night.  Make sure you have some food with you, there's almost no place open on Sunday in Provo.  Tonight was a Fairfield Inn night.  Asked the girl at the counter what the rate was.  "$80 tonight", she cheerily replies.  "Okay, thanks", I retort, and proceed toward the door.  "Weeeellll, how much are you looking to spend?!", she shouts after me.  "How about $45?".  She finds this do-able.  I need to remember that rooms are negotiable.

11/29/04 - After stopping at Best Buy to pick up a digital camera (the Nikon CoolPix 5200), we decided to take the 'shortcut' over Soldier Pass through Green River Valley to tonight's destination of Moab, UT.  Oh it's freezing, in the teens, and we're not happy about it, but it's sunny and blue-skied and absolutely beautiful.  We arrived in Moab around 4pm, and found ourselves at the Big Horn Lodge.  Deals abound here in Moab during the winter, as this place is packed with mountain bikers and off-roaders the rest of the year.  Drove by amazing red rock cliffs on the way into town, look forward to hiking Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park over the next couple of days (we decided to stay two nights).

11/30/04 - Caroline fell ill last night with some stomach ailments, but seems to be doing much better this morning.  Had some breakfast before heading out to Canyonlands National Park (we recommend the Moab Diner for breakfast if you're ever in town).  Canyonlands was absolutely spectacular, made even more so since we were two of perhaps six people in the entire park.  The ranger was from San Francisco, and seemed to be longing for a real restaurant scene, I think he'd like his next job to be working  in Duboce Triangle so he can get some authentic Asian cuisine.  Watched the Spartans lose a close one vs. Duke at Eddie McStiff's Brewery (who would name their bar this?!!!) this evening while utilizing their free WiFi to make some contact with people on our agenda.

12/01/04 - Scott's brother Brian's birthday today - Happy Birthday Brian!  Walked around Arches National Park today.  It was breathtaking, although it felt like we were walking around some red-rocked arctic tundra.  Again, we pretty much had the park to ourselves, which makes it worth tolerating the cold.  Left Utah today, hitting Grand Junction, Colorado for lunch, then stopped for the night at the Glenwood Springs Quality Inn near Aspen.  Some big rock slide closed I-70, but apparently that's up past Glenwood Springs somewhere.  Drove up to Aspen to check it out, and got to see some elk sparring off the side of the road.  It was dark by the time we got there, stores were closing down, so we headed quickly for the first lodge with hot drinks and a fireplace that we could find.  Ended up at the Sky Hotel, which we really liked, before heading back down the slippery road to Glenwood Springs.  Met an extremely friendly chap in the hot tub named Michael who was in GS for bank manager training.  He ended up helping us plan the rest of our drive across Colorado. 

12/02/04 - Today's destination: Boulder, CO.  Stopped to walk around Vail for a bit today.  Seems like a skier's paradise, the way they've got SO many runs that all end right in the village, where the lifts feel like they're practically part of town.  Went over Vail Summit, which at 10,667 feet, is probably the tallest pass we've driven over.  The Cavalier could only go about 40 MPH on the way up, as we were looking pretty pathetic being passed by plows (along with everyone else).  Got to Boulder and started roaming around to find a WiFi signal to uncover a hotel deal.  Looks like we'll be staying at the Boulder Outlook.  Boulder seems like a fun town, very pedestrian friendly, with lots of bar and restaurant options.  After driving to the hotel so Caroline could watch "The O.C.", we headed back out for our first taste of non-Californian sushi, per Michael's (see 12/01/04) recommendation, at Zanmai sushi.  Not bad, but no Daimaru (16th and Church in San Francisco).  We could see living in Boulder, if not for the bitter cold winters that last far too long.

12/03/04 - Down the street to Denver, about 30 minutes away from Boulder.  We really liked Denver, seems like another good pedestrian town.  Interesting shops, restaurants, bars, three ballparks right in town, ... Surprised we don't know lots of people who've moved here.  Checked into the Inverness Resort and Hotel in Englewood, CO (a $50/night Priceline deal that we'll be utilizing for two nights).  Had a lovely dinner with Scott's parent's friend, Ron Martini and his son Nicholas, who live in the area.

12/04/04 - Did more Denver exploring today, which was nice in some somewhat warmer weather.  Went to Denver's annual parade of lights, where they light up city hall and have a parade where they dress everyone (including the high school bands and floats) in battery powered Christmas lights.  It was quite a spectacle, and we enjoyed it as long as we could stand the night-time low temps.

12/05/04 - 12/07/04 - Everyone tells us there's not much to see between Denver and Detroit, just put the cruise control on (as if the Cavalier has cruise) and go.  We don't trust these snobby, pretentious coastal folk who would never consider visiting 'the flyover states', and are sure we'll enjoying seeing the Heartland!

Update: There's nothing to see here.  Eastern Colorado, ALL of Kansas... just drive on through.  We did stop for lunch at Arthur Bryant's world famous barbeque shack in Kansas City, MO, which is worth a stop.  From the photos on the wall, it's apparently also a haunt for famous athletes, past presidents, and James Spader in his mustache days (perhaps incognito?).

Arrived safely at Scott's parents' in Dexter, MI after three days and two uneventful nights of driving through Kansas, Missouri, Illinois and Indiana.  Starting to get anxious to head out of Michigan and get back in some warm weather (is 45 degrees asking too much?), but that won't be for another 6 weeks or so.